


Baby dragon

by Catswineandsushi



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Just Drabble, M/M, Parents, baby fever, lots of good things, so in love, some smutt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-02-14 00:54:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12996297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catswineandsushi/pseuds/Catswineandsushi
Summary: Merlin is left to raise Aithusa after she is turned into a human baby. Arthur insists on putting her up for adoption but Merlin just can’t bring himself to. Maybe this baby will do more good for the pair than they think.





	1. Oh baby

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people. This is a little story Hannah and I started and I just couldn’t resist posting it, we absolutely love writing on this. It’s a good story to kind of break up our writing on Dance Class. ENJOY!

Merlin woke up with a sharp, centered pain in his head. He kicked off his blanket, baggy clothes clinging to his body. Too groggy to realize what he was doing, Merlin stumbled past Gaius and attempted not to trip on his way out the door. 

The halls of the castle were empty and cold, corners dimly lit with the many fires the guards kept to stay warm. Merlin yawned, long sleeves hanging off his hands. His feet were guiding him, though he had long forgotten where he was going. 

Eventually, Merlin was a mile or so out from Camelot shivering in a clearing. Animals cautiously eyed him, owls hooting in response, rabbits bounding away. He hadn’t needed to call when Kilgharrah had swooped his wings lower and lower, sending wind through Merlin’s cotton clothes. 

“Merlin,” he grumbled lowly, eyes lit with a fiery rage. “I cannot take it anymore.”

He was beginning to finally wake up, feeling confused over the entire situation. “What are you talking about?” He yelled grumpily back, feeling the ache of exhaustion from having to tend to Arthur’s many needs.

“She’s done it this time Merlin,” the Great Dragon complained. 

Merlin’s shoulders slouched. “Who? Who has done it? Morgana?”

Kilgharrah whipped his head around in frustration. “No!” He bellowed, a roar that shook the ground some. “Aithusa!”

At the mention of her name, Merlin noticed her absence. She had always been eager to see Merlin whenever Kilgharrah would call for them. “Where has she gone,” Merlin’s voice cracked, expecting the worst. 

“She defied me. And now she is your responsibility.” 

Merlin was now trying to wrap his head around how he was going to sneak a six month old dragon into his room. In the end, he came up with nothing but more confusion and frustration. 

“You’re perplexed young warlock,” the dragon grumbled in his all-knowing-asshole-wise voice. “Let me show you,” as he spoke, he pulled back a wing to reveal a glowing, floating bubble. The object slowly sank down until gently settling on the grass. The color let, revealing a bundle of cloth and downey skin. 

Merlin blinked down at the sleeping, chubby cheeked baby. Tufts of white hair stuck up. “Is that--”

“Ah, I see you’re beginning to understand. Good. You’re taking care of her now.” 

***

Merlin was now a single father. 

He had accepted it. 

Since Aithusa had been dumped on him, Merlin had snuck her beneath his jacket and sneakily, clumsily, and with minimal tripping, got her into his room. He watched her sleep uneasily for a couple hours, not knowing what to do or how to do whatever it was he had to do. Merlin was stressed. 

He paced.

He felt sick.

Was it possible to bald in an hour?

After the sun stretched through the air, casting a glow over the walls of the castle, the little, swaddled mass on his bed began to stir. She blubbered, her tiny face scrunching as she squinted at her surroundings. 

Merlin moved to see her when a loud, obnoxious call was heard from Arthur. It sounded vaguely similar to Aithusa’s whines. The shout threw Merlin into a panicked frenzy. He looked to the door, to the baby, the door, the baby. 

Eventually Gaius opened Merlin’s door with a disappointed look on his face, which wasn’t anything particularly new. “Mer--” He began to chastise, his hazy attention falling over the wiggling appendages. Gaius said nothing, mouth gaping open as he gestured towards the bed. 

“Eh. Yeah,” Merlin scratched the back of his head. “It’s Aithusa. Can you take her?” Gaius’ words had dried in his mouth. Arthur yelled dramatically again. “Thanks!” Merlin beamed, accepting the lack of response as an answer. He clasped Gaius on the shoulder before sprinting out of the room. 

Arthur was furious when Merlin finally made it up to his bedroom. He slumped against the door, panting. Meanwhile Arthur was sitting in black pants, his chest bare, his arms crossed. He pouted expectantly at the empty table. 

“Breakfast.” Merlin suddenly gasped, spinning on his heel to sprint down the hall. He could hear Arthur’s annoyed grumble but didn’t bother to pay attention to what he was shouting. 

“While I was waiting for my breakfast,” Arthur began, arms still crossed. “I thought about all the armour I need polishing, oh and the pens need cleaned, this room is a mess, and…” Merlin stopped listening, rolling his eyes as he mentally considered killing himself. “Merlin? Are you listening?” Arthur growled after a minute of unresponsiveness. 

“Your breakfast is served, m’lord.” He gave a bow just to be that much extra, adding a smile to show the sarcasm. Arthur glared, maintaining eye contact as his arm stretched over a bowl of fruit and grabbed a piece of bread. “Anything else before I start for the day?” There was a clear bite in his voice.

Arthur aggressively ripped a piece of bread off with his teeth, scowling at his servant. “No,” he chewed on one side, watching in half anger, half concern as Merlin left his room. 

The morning slowly went by, incredibly unlucky and with a great number of misfortunes. First, all the shiner used to polish the armour was gone. Merlin went to retrieve another, yet the merchant was out as well. He thought of telling Arthur of the predicament, but he could feel his chest tighten in anger at the very idea of it. 

So he had to travel outside of the castle, where people shuffled to work and bumped into him and horses whipped their tails at him and kids tried to pickpocket him. 

But he got the shiner. Finally. 

He polished the armour until his wrists felt sore and his fingernails were embedded with the paste. As he slumped towards the pens, dragging his feet, Gaius latched onto his shirt and pulled him to the side. 

Aithusa was upset, cheeks freshly wet and red from screaming. “She’s upsetting the patients!” 

Merlin couldn’t believe his luck. “N-no I can’t take--”

Gaius spilled the baby into Merlin’s chest, forcing his arms to protectively cradle around her. “She’s your responsibility Merlin.” 

It was Merlin’s turn to be without words. His eyebrows clashed together with disbelief, jaw slipping open. Gaius nodded at him as if to reestablish his correctness. “I’ve got so much to do Gaius,” he managed to croak. 

The old man gave a cynical smile, “and I don’t?” 

So to add, Merlin was holding one crying child off to the side, the other arm trying not to drop the shovel. The pen reeked, which probably hadn’t helped Aithusa’s mood. “Please,” Merlin bobbed her, growing frustrated with her crying. “Why did you do this?”  
She was the kind of upset a baby gets when their entire face is tomato red, mouth wide, eyes squinted closed. She had run out of tears a long time ago and was now merely screaming in complain. 

“I don’t know what you want!” Merlin shouted, dropping the shovel for the fourth time, the handle landing in his pile of horse dung. 

“Merlin!” A persistent voice called again, the name almost lost among the screaming. Merlin groaned, talking to Aithusa, eagerly trying to quiet her. “What the hell are you doing with a baby?” 

“I--” Merlin didn’t have a readied excuse for this one. He was just so tired. Exhausted. 

Arthur crossed the pen, hands outstretched for the baby. Merlin seemed to hesitate until Arthur gave another gesture. Aithusa was passed between the two. The king’s eyes fell on her face, and likewise, Aithusa’s eyes opened. 

Merlin relished in the sudden silence, watching in amazement as Arthur seemed to get lost in Aithusa’s eyes. “Where did she come from?” Arthur didn’t break the contact.

“Umm…” Merlin tried to find the words, “I found her. In the woods this morning.”

Arthur looked the baby over with concern, “Her mother didn’t want her. Poor thing.” The words were almost a whisper, “Well,” he shifted his hold on her, “We’ll take care of her.”

“We’ll what?” Merlin wasn’t sure he had heard the King correctly, “We’ll take care of her?”

“Well,” Arthur rolled his eyes, “At least until we can find someone to adopt her.”

“No.” Merlin blerted out the response without thinking.

“No?” Arthur glanced up in mild concern.

“I promised her that I’d take care of her.” Merlin was at a loss for what to say next.

“So you adopted her?” 

“I guess.”

Arthur couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he laughed, “You can’t raise a baby on your own!”

Merlin took offense to that, “Why not?”

Arthur didn’t reply, he just shook his head and laughed as he turned around and walked off with the now silent child.


	2. Don’t cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The baby is crying, Merlin is clueless, and Arthur is fed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I know I take ages to update but (I’ll use the excuse all writers do) I was so swamped by life. Really. Between graduation, pets passing away, adopting a kitten, and starting the process of moving out I’ve been doing a lot and kind of lost my creativity. ITS BACK FINALLY! I’m once again ready and excited to write on all my fics! I’m back probably better than ever before (so be prepared) and btw know this chapter is super short but it felt like such a complete piece of the story, I like where I leave it off and I have an awesome plan for the next chapter (already in the works) also your comments and support have been my main driving force, I truly love and appreciate you lovely readers!

“He did what?!” Gaius stopped what he was doing and turned to face Merlin.

“He took her,” Merlin shrugged, “I mean he seems to really like her.” He mumbled his response, of course it was stupid to just let Arthur walk away with the small child but what was he supposed to do? Just stop him and say, ‘yeah actually I need this baby because she’s really a dragon and was given to me by the dragon that almost destroyed the city.’

“I don’t care what you do,” Gaius made his way to open the door, “but don’t come back until you have that baby safely under your care!”

The door slammed and Merlin groaned, of course, just another day in paradise.

Meanwhile, Arthur was struggling. He had a lot of work to do but anytime he attempted to put her down or pass her off to someone else she’d start screaming. Eventually he gave in and sat at his desk with the child cradled in his arms, staying perfectly still and quite.

The door creaked open and Merlin made his way into the chamber, he was about to say something when Arthur quickly hushed him. He glanced down to see that Aithusa was fast asleep.

The door flew open once again revealing Gwaine, carefree grin and all, “Arthur! Merlin! There is this group of guys down at-”

The announcement was cut short with screams, Gwaine stopped talking and stared in confusion.

“Seriously Gwaine?” The blond adjusted his hold on her for the fiftieth time that day and sighed loudly.

“Where’d the baby come from?” He was making his way into the chamber.

“I found her this morning,” Merlin was already sick of telling the lie over and over again.

“Let me see her,” He stretched out his overly masculine arms.

“Hell no,” Arthur pulled her in protectively, “I can get pissed off your breath alone.”

“Oh come on,” Gwaine dropped his arms in defeat, “I only had one drink.” Arthur eyed him suspiciously, “MAYBE two.”

The king huffed and glanced back down at the still crying child, between the arguing and the crying the whole scene was chaotic, “Fine.” He shoved her into Gwaine’s arms and the whaling was now deafening. 

Merlin was half tempted to reveal his magic right then and there just to put the child to sleep with a spell. Of course, unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

“Oh hush,” Gwaine bounced her in his arms. She continued to cry and Gwaine shot Arthur a disapproving glare, “When was the last time she ate?”

Arthur opened his mouth to respond but Gwaine cut him off, “You know what? No, I’m taking her to get some milk because obviously you’re clueless.” He flipped the hair out of his face, the crying started to die down a little, “Isn’t he?” He grinned at the baby girl, “Yes he is,” he continued to baby talk her as he turned around and left the pair alone.

Arthur groaned and flopped back down into his seat, he looked expectantly at Merlin, “Well!”

Merlin scrunched his face, “Well what?” 

“Are you just going to stand there while Gwaine whisks her off to god knows where?”

Merlin had to take a moment to process what just came out of Arthur’s mouth, “Well she seemed like she needed to be fed, and it's not like Gwaine’s THAT irresponsible.”

Arthur just glared, he tapped his foot impatiently until Merlin got the hint.

He groaned, “Fine, hang on.” He followed after the knight.

***

“Gwaine what the hell?” Merlin walked into the rising sun, drunkards cheered obnoxiously and spilled ale on the floor. Gwaine was sitting at the bar, Aithusa propped up and giggling at the funny faces he was making to entertain her.

“Merlin!” He adjusted on the bar stool, “She’s really cute,” he brushed the wispy hair out of her face, “I think I’m gonna call her Ailbe.” He smiled broadly, “It means white.”

“First of all her name is Aithusa,” Merlin snatched her off the bar top, “Second of all, this is no place for a baby!”

“What?” Gwaine gestured to bowl Merlin hadn’t noticed before, “Here she can have milk and fruit.” The bowl was filled with a colorful mash.

“She can get all of that in the castle kitchens,” Merlin adjusted his hold on her and proceeded to walk away, she started to cry again, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Merlin sighed and handed her back to Gwaine. Why couldn’t she be calm for him?

“Alright darling,” He cradled her, “It’s okay.” He glanced up, “I think she could use some fresh air anyway.”


End file.
